Aaaand! Yesterdday Roto-rooter paid a visit. Having a nasty cough probably brought on by the sanding and painting in my wife's office, Sunday I went downstairs to the furnace to simply change the filter. So I knelt down and took out the old filter and put in a new one. When I stood up the knees of the my pants were wet.

Knowing I did not wet my pants this time I felt the carpet. Yup, wet. Looking closely I saw that the floor drain, into which some of the furnace condensate goes, was overflowing.

I did some creative cussing and brought out the shop vac and sucked up all the water I could and continued doing this. On Monday I called Roto-rooter. They came out and ran their mechanical snake through the drain a couple times and it's draining quite nicely now.

I should mention that while this cost me $98 it was a helluva lot cheaper than chiseling out the old (cast iron) drain and replacing it. Yes, the threads on the cleanout plug were rusted away, but they put in a new compression plug.

BUT! While I was sitting at this here computer Sunday evening I heard a loud CRACK! from the kitchen here in the basement. Knowing that such sounds do not bode well I investigated. The old plastic(?) shelving on which the beer/dorm refrigerator was sitting had finally given way. I removed the fridge and sat it on the floor. Yesterday I found a 1940s style end table in a thrift store ($14.99) and the fridge has a new stand.

I saw the doctor today. It was a scheduled visit, a followup for the heart thing last Spring. Instead we discussed my cough and he prescribed some Tessalon PERLEs, rest, lots of liquids, ibuprofen, nasal saline, and if there are any bad things happening call me.

Let's see: the score for the week is a partially flooded basement, a collapsed refrigerator stand, and a rather nasty cold/cough. At least I'm...no, I'm not going to say it.